The President of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, on Thursday, disclosed that the region is targeting 5% growth in 2026.
Touray, who disclosed this in a meeting with partners, said the region did not do badly in the previous year.
He said the sub-region recorded 4.6% growth, outperforming the continent.
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"The annual report that hopefully you will all get indicates that global economic growth has slowed down in 2025, and although inflation eased relatively, uncertainty remains high. Yet in the midst of these global headwinds, Africa, our continent, continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience.
"Growth is recovering, inflation is declining, and political stability has improved in a number of regions.
"This resilience is also evident within our own community, our own West African community. In 2025, the region outperformed the continental average. Growth was 4.6% and is expected to get to 5% in 2026, and this is for ECOWAS."
The Commission's president attributed the growth recorded to the various reforms undertaken by the member states.
According to him, "This robust performance is driven by structural reforms, rising investment in mining and energy, improvement in regional trade facilitation, and a strong rebound in services, transport, and tourism.
"Although inflation remains elevated, we have noticed some fall, and in some cases very sharp fall, and that fall has been helped by coordinated monetary policies and better food supply conditions across member states.
"Fiscal deficits have narrowed significantly as governments strengthen revenue mobilisation and rationalise public expenditure.
"Our debt-to-GDP ratio has also declined modestly, reflecting strong nominal growth and improved macroeconomic management. Our external position remains sound.
"The regional current account surplus has strengthened, bolstered by high export earnings from oil, gold, and bauxite, as well as improved primary income balances."
Touray also disclosed that the commission directed its attention to insecurity in the year under review, stressing that ECOWAS intensified preventive diplomacy, mediation and democratic support across the region.
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He also disclosed that ECOWAS had registered progress in combating organised crime and terrorism.
